How best to end this transaction.

[sea.breeze]

Before bidding on item on US ebay, for an airport express which is a very small object, I messaged the seller to ask if they would be willing to ship to Australia for the USPS first class international air mail for about $15. This resulted in numous back and forth emails with the seller wondering if this was possible and how to adjust the invoice yada yada yada. I told him it's fine if he doesn't want to bother but I cannot pay the $35 postage for priority mail. He said he would be willing to do this. I even sent a link to the USPS page with the First Class Mail info,  I put a low bid in early thinking that it would be outbid anyway.

However I won the auction but the seller sent me a new invoice that was even more, yes that's correct, even more than the already inflated ebay price. Then he sent me messages saying that he kept his end of the bargain and I should pay him the new $43 postage price. LOL.

I sent him some more messages to just cancel the auction and not to worry as I'm not intending to leave him bad fb. However I've not heard back, the item has not been canceled and I was just wondering what is the best way forward, do I just ignore it and respond if and when an unpaid item dispute comes in, or should I do something more now?

thx.

[collect247]

You have 2 choices either pay for it or don't pay for it and risk getting an unpaid item strike.

Maybe they will cancel it at your request but maybe they won't.

As buyers we have too much power but we need to make sure that we find out everything regarding making any purchase before we buy or bid on eBay.

[springyzone]

Is the seller able to inflate the postage price up to more than the listed price on ebay? I didn't think a seller could do that.

I'm aware that a seller can list, saying that postage varies depending on where the buyer lives, but if it was definitely quoted at $35 for international mail, then surely that is what it should stay at?

You've got 2 choices. You can pay exactly what it was listed for in the ad, or you can just refuse to pay.

The seller may or may not cancel, you have no control over that. (or so i understand).

It is disappointing for you to have it turn out like this, though all the messaging sort of indicated he was a bit uncertain about the whole process, or how it worked.

Just explain you aren't paying as you were under the impression he had agreed to USPS mail for about $15 & can't afford the higher amount.

Nothing terrible will happen to you, that's the great thing. So what if you get one strike? No one sees it, it doesn't affect your buying in any way, it drops off after 12 months.

Just don't trust this seller again.

[kopenhagen5]

With packing the seller may have been to the post office and been quoted this price.

If the total price you got it for is not more then what you expected to initially with the cheaper postage, I would pay for it.

[sea.breeze]

Well it is more, it's in fact close to double. Basically I have made errors in the past by ending auctions without first checking here, so I just wanted to know how best to respond if a UID, is initiated. BTW would message correspondence be relevant for eBay. As for postage, it's really just a matter of saying how you want it sent, the usps website has it clearly marked, it's not rocket science. I mean if you went down your local to post a small parcel within Australia and were told it's $40, would you just go 'OK', I don't think so.

[sea.breeze]

Agreed, it's a bit frustrating though when one anticipates every possible thing, and allows for it but it still doesn't matter. I actually thought he'd simply say 'no I can't be bothered', I'd be happy with that, it's why I ask in the first place. FFIW, most US sellers are happy to ship low value items by First Class post and some are completely oblivious to the fact that eBay had offereed international post at silly prices that they were unaware of. 

[imastawka]

It sounds like it was being shipped by the Global Shipping Program.

That's why the postage was so high.   Sellers who use the GSP are only charged final value fees on domestic postage if they use it.  And they are protected from gettting bad fb and negs also.

Can you post an item number?

If they don't cancel and open and UPI then you can only ignore it.

One strike won't hurt.  Just don't get another one.

[kopenhagen5]

Best to keep messages within eBay so if they do an unpaid strike you can call eBay to explain seller had agreed to USPS first class and possibly have it removed. But one strike in 12 months doesn't affect you anyway.

[phorum_junkie*]

If it was listed with GSP delivery thenn the seller is unable to cancel that and quote a different service. The only way it can be done is fore the seller to cancel the listing and relist it with the alternative shippig cost.

May sellers in the US donnt have a clue about the GPS and have no idea how much the buyer pays.

As the seller agreed to a different postage method probably not realisng they couldn't do it I would ask them to cancel the sale.